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Urinary house soiling (periuria) in the home is a common but serious behaviour problem in cats. Although many specific risk factors and triggers have been postulated, their importance is largely unknown. This study assessed: (1) the significance of purported risk factors for periuria as well as specifically marking and latrine behaviour in the home; (2) the specificity and sensitivity of signs commonly used to differentiate latrine and marking behaviour. Owner responses to an internet survey (n = 245) were classified into three groups: control, marking and latrine behaviour, along with 41 potential risk factors and 15 predictors used to diagnose marking and latrine problems. Univariate statistical analyses and non-parametric tests of association were used to determine simple associations. In addition the sensitivity and specificity of four cardinal signs (posture to urinate, attempt to cover soiled area, surface chosen and volume of urine deposited) were calculated. Significant potential risk factors were: age (marking cats were older than the other two groups); multi-cat household (increased risk of marking and latrine behaviours); free outside access and cat flaps in the house (higher frequency of marking); outside access in general (lower prevalence of latrine behaviour); defecation outside the litter box (higher frequency of latrine behaviour); a heavy dependence by the cat on its owner (lower frequency of latrine behaviour) and a relaxed personality (lower risk of marking behaviour). Litterbox attributes and disease related factors were not significant. Individual cardinal signs were generally not good predictors of diagnosis. This study challenges the poor quality of evidence that has underpinned some of the hypotheses concerning the causes of periuria in cats. The results, in particular, highlight the general importance of the social environment, with the presence of other cats in the household, the cat-owner bond and personality related factors, alongside fa

Situations that are emotional and arousing have an effect on cognitive performance. It is thought that beta adrenergic activation and the release of stress hormones enhance memory consolidation and lead to an increase in memorability of emotional events. This beneficial effect has been shown in humans, non-human primates and rodents. Techniqueswhich could enhancememory for learning specific taskswould be highly valuable, especially in dogs, which are extensively trained to aid humans. A pseudo-randomized, counterbalanced, between subject study designs was utilised and 16 Labrador Retrievers ranging from 1 to 9 years of agewere trained in a 2-choice discrimination paradigm. After task acquisition, either a playful activity intervention (N= 8) or a resting period (N= 8) took place, lasting for 30 min. A range of factors including age, sex, training experience and trials to criterion on each day was subjected to a multiple factor/covariate General Linear Model analysis. The results show that playful activity post-learning improved training performance evidenced by fewer trials needed to re-learn the task 24 h after initial acquisition (playful activity group: mean number of trials 26, SD 6; resting group: mean number of trials 43, SD 19, effect size 1.2). Average heart rate, as a measure of arousal, during the interventionwas significantly higher in the playful activity group (143 beats/min, SD 16) versus the resting group (86 beats/min, SD 19, P b 0.001). Salivary cortisol did not significantly differ between groups during training, however a significant decrease (T:−4.1 P b 0.01) was seen after the playful activity. To our knowledge this is the first evidence that posttraining activity may influence training performance in dogs.

Review of noise sensitivities and new product for treating them.

2 case reports - human directed aggression in dogs later found to have discospondylitis. Abstract: This is the first report of aggressive behaviour as the primary presenting sign in two dogs subsequently found to have chronic diskospondylitis, with neither dog showing other typical clinical signs of this condition. Mild signs of pain were elicited on physical examination in both dogs. Further medical investigation revealed signs indicative of chronic diskospondylitis (L7/S1) and treatment with analgesics and antibiotics was commenced. A marked improvement in behaviour was seen in both dogs when on treatment. Dog 1 stopped exhibiting unpredictable episodes of growling and biting when handled or approached and dog 2 stopped vocalising and occasional growling when handled or lifted. Gradual treatment withdrawal (dog 1 after six weeks and dog 2 after four weeks, respectively) caused a recurrence of behaviour signs thus further treatment was recommenced. Continued follow-up over a year revealed the importance of long-term use of analgesics to prevent behavioural deterioration when chronic lesions are present.

Adherence to the advice of medical practitioners is critical to successful treatment outcomes and has been much researched in human health, but is less well studied in the veterinary and clinical animal behavior fields. Given that the management of behavior problems often requires substantial change in established client behavior, it is likely that adherence is a substantive issue affecting success. However, little is known about the relationships between relevant factors, and there is no established way of assessing these. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop an instrument for coding factors likely to impinge on pet owner adherence to behavior advice and validate its utility through the identification of the factors appearing to relate most closely to a successful treatment outcome in a sample population from our clinic. Potential factors affecting adherence were identified from human health and animal behavior studies, and a survey instrument developed with items matched to these factors. Forty-two dog owners who had attended the University of Lincoln Animal Behavior Clinic over a 2-year period provided data used in the analysis. The assessment of treatment outcome success by clients and clinicians was correlated, but clinicians tended to overestimate success by half a point on a 5-point scale. Eleven items relating to adherence were found to correlate with client ratings of treatment success in a univariate analysis, with three of these remaining in an ordinal logistic regression model. These three related to trust in the advice given by the clinician, concern over distress caused to the pet in the longer term and the perceived recommendation of treatment measures that had failed. By further examining the relationship between all of these factors in a hierarchical cluster analysis, we were able to postulate ways in which we might be able to improve client adherence and thus treatment success. This provides a model for the application of the instrument